Assignment 8: Evaluate Alternatives
Some of the following materials are adapted from the
Decision Process Guide, published by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation.
This assignment deals with using evaluation to identify alternatives. Alternatives are those options that are the best or optimal choices. Trade-offs and compromises may be necessary to achieve your goal.
How to do it:
Determine if there is:
- An indicator (a particular measure or gauge) that is important to your strategy, such as timeliness, use of few resources, low estimated cost, or meeting a specific deadline.
- A weight (importance in ranking) that is important to your strategy, such as completing one action before another. Ask yourself: Is meeting need X more important than meeting need Y?
- An impact (a consequence that may happen) that will affect your strategy, such as increased overtime.
This information can be helpful in making decisions about the viability of each alternative.
- The indicators;
- The impact of each indicator; and
- The weight (ranking) of each indicator.
The following questions may help you determine the indicators and their impact and weight:
- What else do I need to know about the alternatives to choose one?
- Will this alternative cause a problem or problems in other areas? Can you live with that problem?
- Will this alternative integrate well with other related processes?
- Are there additional data that would help make a decision? If so, then:
- - Identify what data is needed;
- - Determine how to analyze data and answer relevant questions; and
- - Collect only essential data relevant to the current level of detail.
- What would make one alternative more viable than another?
- How does the impact of each alternative compare to the other alternatives?
- Does any one have more or less impact?
- What are the deciding factors in a preferred alternative?
Look at your alternatives listed on your
Options Worksheet [2.1.3.a.7.a] and compare to the indicators to determine the best choice. Your goal is to identify or rank choices from the alternative list.
The following questions may help you determine the best alternative:
- Which alternative meets the highest weighted indicator and has the most favorable impact?
- Which alternative meets the second highest weighted indicator and has the most favorable impact?
- Which alternative meets the third highest weighted indicator and has the most favorable impact?
Resources to use:
Ranking Techniques can help you prioritize issues and actions and determine the relative strengths and weaknesses of alternatives.
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